Electrical connector assembly

ABSTRACT

An electrical connector assembly comprising an insulative housing with at least one opening therein. Positioned substantially within this opening is an electrical contact having a contacting portion for engaging a male contact pin as the pin is inserted within said contacting portion, a central retaining portion for frictionally engaging the internal walls of the opening, and a male end portion for protruding from the insulative housing. The contacting portion of the contact further includes means for applying progressively increasing force against the male pin during initial insertion of the pin.

United States Patent 1191 Jayne 1451 Jan. 28, 1975 ELECTRICAL CONNECTORASSEMBLY Primary Examiner-Joseph H. McGlynn W P [75] Max L Jayne North AAttorney, Agent, or F1rmNorman J. O Malley; [73] Assignee: GTE SylvaniaIncorporated, Donald R. Castle; William H. McNeill Stamford, Conn.

[22] Filed: Oct. 3, 1973 57 CT [2H NOJ An electrical connector assemblycomprising an insulative housing with at least one opening therein.Posi- 52 s 1 339 93 3, 339 221 R, 339 25 R tioned substantially withinthis opening is an electrical 51 1111. c1 H0lr 13/12 9 having contactingPortion for engaging a [58] Field of Search 339/93, 182, 183, 256, maleContact pin as the p is insertedwithin said 339 253 259 2 2 220 221 273tacting portion, a central retaining portion for frictionv ally engagingthe internal walls of the opening. and a [56] References Cited male endportion for protruding from the insulative UNn-ED STATES PATENTShousing. The contacting portion of the contact further 3 56 487 2! U t tI 339/258 R includes means for applying progressively increasing psoneea3,670.294 6/1972 Johnson et al. 339/221 M fgg g s the male pm durmgmemo" of FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 805,728 12/1958 Great Britain339/182 R 12 Chm, 6 Drawing figures ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR ASSEMBLYBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to electricalconnectors. More particularly, this invention relates to electricalconnectors having at least one contact positioned therein forfrictionally engaging an inserted male pin member.

vPrior art connectors of the variety described most usually have aplurality of contacts positioned therein which frictionally engage aplurality of corresponding male pin members of a second connector whenmated thereto. Thus a plurality of separate distinct electrical circuitsmay readily be formed in a substantially easy manner.

The contacts of these connectors are usually comprised of an uppercontacting portion of a resilient material able to flex accordinglyduring pin insertion. Usually, a second less resilient material isutilized for a tail or lower portion of the contact. This portion isalso usually provided with the necessary retention features forretaining the contact within the insulative housing.

The upper contacting portions of the contacts described above furtherinclude a plurality of individual tinesor engagement members of equallength and strategically positioned to slidably engage the inserted pinand thereafter apply the maximum frictional force thereto. This in turnassures a sound electrical connection between male pin contact. Anexample of such an arrangement is illustrated in U.S. Pat No. 3,665,378(Hammell, et al.) and U.S. Pat No. 3,l92,498 (H.E. Ruehlmann.) In U.S.Pat. No. 3,665,378, the contacting bands 72 and 74 of equal lengthengagement members 2 and 4 respectively are oppositely aligned with eachengaging an inserted pin at the same time. In U.S. Pat. No. 3,192,498,contacting areas 52 and 56 of equal length engagement members 18 and 20respectively perform similar functions.

At least two distinctive shortcomings are found in contact members ofthis type. Firstly, it has been found on several occasions that thepressures exerted against the male pin have been substantially excessiveduring initial insertion of the pin. As a consequence, difficulties havearisen during positioning of the pins within the correspondingcontacting portions of the contacts in the housing. As can beappreciated, when a plurality of pins are inserted within acorresponding plurality of contacts, the described excessive pressuresare increased substantially. A second inherent problem in these types ofconnector has been a result of the excessive pressures mentioned above.Application of this pressure has further resulted in the inability ofthe described contacting portions to return to their basic spring-likeconfiguration after several repeated insertions and withdrawals of themale pins. On far too many occasions, these contact portions have becomepermanently deformed resulting in insufficient electrical connections. I

It is believed, therefore, that an electrical connector which includestherein contacts able to apply progressively increasing pressure againstinserting male pins rather than abrupt initial excessive forces wouldcomprise an advancement in the art.

It is further believed that such a contact member which is readily ableto provide such increasing pressure and thereafter return to itsoriginal position after removal of said male pin member would alsoconstitute an advancement in the art.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Consequently, it is an object ofthis-invention to provide an improved electrical connector.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an electricalconnector having therein at least one contact which is able to applyprogressively increasing pressure against an inserted male contactmember.

It is an even further object of this invention to provide an electricalcontact which has a contacting portion readily able to return to itsoriginal established position after removal of said male contact member.

In accordance with one aspect of this invention. there is provided anelectrical contact member for being positioned substantially within anestablished opening in aninsulative connector body. This contactcomprises a contacting portion having means therein for initiallyengaging a male contact member, a centrally located retaining portionpositioned substantially adjacent the contacting portion and havingmeans located thereon for frictionally engaging the internal walls ofthe established opening in the connector body, and a male end portionpositioned adjacent the retaining portion and adapted for protrudingfrom said connector body. The contacting portion includes means forapplying progressively increasing force against an inserted male pinduring initial insertion of the pin rather than an abrupt large amountof force.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an isometric view of oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the embodiment of FIG. 1 within aconnector housing;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged side elevational view of the embodiment of FIG. Iabout to receive a male pin member;

FIG. 4 is the embodiment of FIG. I having a male pin member insertedtherein.

FIG. 5 is a view taken along the lines 55 in FIG. 2 illustrating thecentral retaining portion of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a chart depicting the difference in applied insertion forcesas exerted by a contact of the invention and a contact of the prior art.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS For a betterunderstanding of the present invention,

together with other and further objects, advantages andcapabilitiesthereof, reference is made to the following disclosure and appendedclaims in connection with the above-described drawings.

With particular reference to FIG. 1 of the drawings, one embodiment ofthe present invention, contact 10 is shown. Contact 10 is adapted forbeing inserted within an established opening in an insulative housingand comprises a contacting portion 11, a centrally located retainingportion 13, and a male end portion 15. Contacting portion 11 is adapted.for initially engaging a male pin member and thereafter applyingprogressively increasing pressure against the male pin as this member isinserted into the contacting portion. A description of how thisincreasing pressure is applied will be given with the explanation ofFIGS. 3 and 4. Central retaining portion 13 comprises a means 17 forfrictionally engaging the internal walls of an established openingwithin the described connector body. Means 17 comprises at least twoseparate retention areas 19, each of which have a plurality ofprotruding flat walled members 21 extending therefrom. Each of theseflat walled members frictionally engages the described walls when thecontact is inserted into the established opening in the insulativeconnecting body. Male end portion 15, substantially adjacent centralretaining portion 13 and comprising a protruding end 23, is adapted forextending beyond the confines of the described insulative housing andfor making contact with an external lead or similar electricalconductive member. It is common practice in the art to wire wrap orsimilarly secure an electrical lead about this protruding end.

In HO. 2, contact 10 is illustrated in its inserted position withinestablished opening 25 in insulative housing 27. As can be appreciated,established opening 25 comprises a relatively narrow lower portion 29and an upper portion 31 substantially larger than the lower portion.Thus, when contact 10 is inserted within housing 27, central retainingportion 13 frictionally engages the internal walls of lower portion 29,while contacting portion 11 slidably engages the walls of upper portion31. This latter engagement is accomplished when the outwardly knurledends 33, 33', and 33" of the previously described engagement members 12,12 and 12", respectively, make contact with the internal walls of upperportion 31. Because these outwardly knurled portions extend beyond theplanar boundaries of the lower portions of the engagement members, theselower portions do not engage the internal walls of upper portion 31 ofthe opening 25 prior to insertion of a male pin. An enlarged view of thepositioning of contacting portion 11 within opening 25 can be seen inFIG. 3. Contact portion 11 is shown about to receive a male pin 35. Pin35, which may be one of several similar such pins of a multi-pinconnector assembly or may singularly comprise an individual contact, isinserted within upper opening 31. The purpose therefore of contact 10 isto provide a means for electrically connecting male pin 35 or similartype male members with the described electrical lead or similarcomponent which is electrically joined to male end portion 15.Engagement members l2, l2 and 12". each being of different lengths asillustrated in FIG. 3, thus make contact with pin 35 at differentperiods as pin 35 is inserted within contacting portion 11. By providingsuch varying periods of engagement, it can be seen that a means isprovided for applying progressively increasing pressure against male pin35 as the pin is inserted into the contacting portion 11. Morespecifically, pin 35 first makes contact with outwardly knurled portion33" of engagement member 12". Shortly thereafter the inserted pin 35will make contact with outwardly knurled portion 33 of engagement member12'. At this time, it can be seen that pin 35 is slidably engaged withat least two engagement members. Upon further insertion, pin 35subsequently engages a third engagement member 12 thus insuring athree-way contact with the pin. The described method of progressiveengagement differs substantially from prior art contacts in thatprevious contacts most usually provide a means for abruptly engaging amale pin with a maximum amount of force during initial insertion. Oncethis relatively high initial force is overcome. the remaining forcerequired to achieve complete insertion decreases substantially. Thelatter is also true with regard to the present invention. However, theinitial forces against an inserted male pin have now been more widelydistributed and are thus substantially easier to overcome. ln FIG. 4,pin 35 is completely inserted in upper portion 31 of opening 25 and theresulting depression of the outwardly knurled portions 33, 33' and 33"is illustrated. Each of these portions tends to flatten out uponinsertion by the pin, thus providing a means for both frictionallyengaging the internal walls of the upper portion 31 as well asfrictionally engaging the surfaces of pin 35. As also shown in FlG. 4,the insertion of the male pin causes each of the engagement members l2,l2 and 12" to expand in an outwardly direction from the surface of pin35. This outward expansion is achieved due to the fact that eachengagement member is itself a separate entity. More specifically, eachis separated from the other by an interim opening 37. Even morespecifically, engagement member I2 is separated from engagement member12" by opening 37 as illustrated in FIG. 4. Accordingly, engagementmember 12" is separated from engagement member 12' by a similaropeningtnot shown.) Because the described contacting portion comprisesin the preferred embodiment three such engagement members, there isofcourse no opening of the nature described between engagement member12- and engagement member 12. Each of these members is separatedthroughout their entire length by a defining channel 39 as shown in FIG.2. As can further be seen in FIGS. 3 and 4, each of the describedengagement members are united at their re spective lower portions into acommon joining portion 41 ofcontacting portion 11. In the mannerdescribed, each of the engagement members pivots from this commonjoining portion 41 upon the insertion of male pin 35. Theabove-described positioning arrangement of the individual engagementmembers l2, l2 and 12" readily facilitates the return of each of thesemembers to their original positions upon removal of pin 35 from opening25.

in the preferred embodiment, contact 10 is fabricated from a singlematerial utilizing well known stamping, coining, and similar formingoperations. It is also preferred that at least the contacting portion 11of contact 10 be coated with a material possessing excellent electricalconducting properties, such as gold or silver alloy compositions. Thisis not an essential requirement, however, it can be readily appreciatedthat fabricating the contact from a material possessing good electricalproperties, such as copper, will still achieve the desired function. Inthe event that it is not desired to coat contacting portion 11 with amaterial as described having excellent electrically conductiveproperties, an alternative embodiment is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 forproviding a sound electrical connection. More specifically, as shown inFIG. 3, outward knurled portion 33" of engagement member 12" has anupstanding contact portion 43 positioned thereon. This upstandingcontact portion 43 is of a material possessing excellent electricallyconducting properties, such as a gold or silver alloy composition. Inthe preferred embodiment, a gold alloy composition is used. Thus, it canbe seen that male pin 35 is immediately provided with a sound electricalconnection upon insertion within contacting portion ll. As can beappreciated, however,

upstanding contact portion 43 can be positioned on either of theremaining engagement members and still achieve the desired result.

In H0. 5, there is shown a sectional view of the central retainingportion 13 of contact as this portion is positioned within the lowerportion 29 of opening 25. More specifically, the cross section is takenthrough one of the described two retention areas 19 positioned oncentral retaining portion 13. Each of these retention areas comprises aplurality of flat walled members 21 (four are shown in the preferredembodiment) which extend from retention area 19 and frictionally engagethe internal walls of openings 25. The embodiment described is onlyrepresentative of several embodiments which are capable of frictionallypositioning contact 10 within opening 25 of an insulative body. As canbe appreciated, more than four such flat walled members 21 may beutilized although in the preferred embodiment only four are desired. Itis essential that central retaining portion 13 have atleast two of thedescribed retention areas 19 in order that contact 10 may be properlyaxially aligned within opening 25.

FIG. 6 depicts a unique comparison between the differences in insertionas applied by a typical prior art contact and the contact of the presentinvention. The broken line signifies the rather abrupt initial forcewhich the pin receives upon insertion into a contact as sembly in whichthe upper spring-like deflection members are substantially aligned, ormore specifically, of equal lengths. Once the deflection members havebeen fully deflected, the remaining forces needed for insertion aredecreased substantially as illustrated on the right side of thechart.

Depicted in solid is the application of insertion forces by the unequallengthed deflection members of the contact of the instant invention. Asseen in the drawing, this force increases progressively through a seriesof three steps as each of the three deflection members is engaged.Because the male pin is slidably engaging the first and seconddeflection members, respectively, the maximum force required to deflectthe three deflection members is substantially less than the totalrequired in the prior art contact. Once deflection is achieved, theforce required to complete insertion decreases to substantially that ofthe previous contact.

Thus, there has been shown and described an electrical contact memberfor being positioned within an opening in an insulative connector body.This contact member, in addition to providing a means whereby thecontact is retained in axial alignment within the described opening,provides the unique features of being able to apply progressivelyincreasing pressure against a male contact member as this member isinserted into the contacting portion of the contact.

While there have been shown and described what at present is consideredthe preferred embodiment of the invention, it will be obvious to thoseskilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be madetherein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined bythe appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An electrical contact for being positioned substantially within anestablished opening in an electrically insulative housing, said contactcomprising:

a contacting portion having means therein for initially engaging a malecontact member and thereafter applying progressively increasing forceagainst said male contact member during initial insertion of said malecontact member into said contacting portion, said means comprising atleast three engagement members, each of said engagement members being ofdifferent lengths;

a centrally located retaining portion substantially adjacent saidcontacting portion having means located thereon for frictionallyengaging the internal walls of said established opening in saidconnector body; and

a male end portion substantially adjacent said retaining portion forprotruding from said connector body.

2. The electrical contact according to claim 1 wherein said contact isof one piececonstruction.

3. The electrical contact according to claim 1 wherein each of saidengagement members are adapted for mutually engaging at least one otherengagement member upon removal of said male contact member from saidcontacting portion.

4. The electrical contact according to claim 1 wherein said meanslocated on said centrally located retaining portion for frictionallyengaging the internal walls of said established opening in saidconnector body comprises at least two retention areas, each of saidareas having a plurality of protruding flat-walled members extendingtherefrom and adapted for engaging said internal walls of said opening.

5. The electrical contact according to claim 1 wherein at least one ofsaid engagement members has an upstanding contact portion thereon forengaging said male contact member, said upstanding contact portion of amaterialpossessing good electrical conducting properties.

6. The electrical contact according to claim 5 wherein said material forsaid upstanding contact portion is of a gold alloy composition.

7. An electrical connector assembly comprising:

an electrically insulative housing having at least one opening therein;and

at least one electrical contact for being positioned substantiallywithin said opening within said insulative housing, said contact havingmeans therein for initially engaging a male contact member andthereafter applying progressively increasing force against said malecontact member during initial insertion of said male contact member intosaid contacting portion, said means comprising at least three engagementmembers, each of said engagement members being of different lengths, acen trally located retaining portion substantially adjacent saidcontacting portion having means located thereon for frictionallyengaging the internal walls of said established opening connector body,and a male end portion substantially adjacent said retaining portion forprotruding from said connector body.

8. The electrical connector according to claim 7 wherein said contact isof one-piece construction.

9. The electrical connector according to claim 7 wherein each of saidengagement members are adapted for mutually engaging at least one otherengagement member upon removal of said male contact member from saidcontacting portion.

10. The electrical connector according to claim 7 wherein said meanslocated on said centrally located retaining portion for frictionallyengaging the internal said male contact member, said upstanding contactportion of a material possessing good electrical conducting properties.

12. The electrical connector according to claim ll wherein said materialfor said upstanding contact portion is of a gold alloy composition. k l

1. An electrical contact for being positioned substantially within anestablished opening in an electrically insulative housing, said contactcomprising: a contacting portion having means therein for initiallyengaging a male contact member and thereafter applying progressivelyincreasing force against said male contact member during initialinsertion of said male contact member into said contacting portion, saidmeans comprising at least three engagement members, each of saidengagement members being of different lengths; a centrally locatedretaining portion substantially adjacent said contacting portion havingmeans located thereon for frictionally engaging the internal walls ofsaid established opening in said connector body; and a male end portionsubstantially adjacent said retaining portion for protruding from saidconnector body.
 2. The electrical contact according to claim 1 whereinsaid contact is of one piece construction.
 3. The electrical contactaccording to claim 1 wherein each of said engagement members are adaptedfor mutually engaging at least one other engagement member upon removalof said male contact member from said contacting portion.
 4. Theelectrical contact according to claim 1 wherein said means located onsaid centrally located retaining portion for frictionally engaging theinternal walls of said established opening in said connector bodycomprises at least two retention areas, each of said areas having aplurality of protruding flat-walled members extending therefrom andadapted for engaging said internal walls of said opening.
 5. Theelectrical contact according to claim 1 wherein at least one of saidengagement members has an upstanding contact portion thereon forengaging said male contact member, said upstanding contact portion of amaterial possessing good electrical conducting properties.
 6. Theelectrical contact according to claim 5 wherein said material for saidupstanding contact portion is of a gold alloy composition.
 7. Anelectrical connecTor assembly comprising: an electrically insulativehousing having at least one opening therein; and at least one electricalcontact for being positioned substantially within said opening withinsaid insulative housing, said contact having means therein for initiallyengaging a male contact member and thereafter applying progressivelyincreasing force against said male contact member during initialinsertion of said male contact member into said contacting portion, saidmeans comprising at least three engagement members, each of saidengagement members being of different lengths, a centrally locatedretaining portion substantially adjacent said contacting portion havingmeans located thereon for frictionally engaging the internal walls ofsaid established opening connector body, and a male end portionsubstantially adjacent said retaining portion for protruding from saidconnector body.
 8. The electrical connector according to claim 7 whereinsaid contact is of one-piece construction.
 9. The electrical connectoraccording to claim 7 wherein each of said engagement members are adaptedfor mutually engaging at least one other engagement member upon removalof said male contact member from said contacting portion.
 10. Theelectrical connector according to claim 7 wherein said means located onsaid centrally located retaining portion for frictionally engaging theinternal walls of said established opening in said connector bodycomprises at least two retention areas, each of said areas having aplurality of protruding flat-walled members extending therefrom andadapted for engaging said internal walls of said opening.
 11. Theelectrical connector according to claim 7 wherein at least one of saidengagement members has an upstanding contact portion thereon forengaging said male contact member, said upstanding contact portion of amaterial possessing good electrical conducting properties.
 12. Theelectrical connector according to claim 11 wherein said material forsaid upstanding contact portion is of a gold alloy composition.